the ignition inside the car thinks the key is ALWAYS in, it never realizes that i take the key out...anyone have this prob? anyone know how i can fix it? what i can inspect?
~andrew

 

I also had this problem on my 94 SE. It was very annoying because I couldn't lock my doors from the inside (I had to shut the door and then use the key from the outside).

It has happened to me about 3-4 times over the span of 3-4 years. The first couple times it would only happen for a day or so and then it would go away. Then it happened for about a week and went away. The last time it happened I had the problem for about a month. The problem finally went away and has now operated normally for at least 6 months.

I use to think the problem had to do with the weather (cold or humidity), but I don't think that is the case. I think I remember reading on the forum a while back that someone else had the same problem and fixed it by changing their whole ignition assembly on their steering column. That's probably fairly expensive. I would only do that if the problem were permanent and persisted for months.

 

Replace the ignition switch.